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Hardly a week goes by in which I do not see examples of extreme
public union idiocy. Nonetheless, it is rare to see an entirely
new concept prop up. Here's a new one.

Pete Constant, a San Jose Councilman wants to answer his own
phone. However, union rules dictate that he have a $70,000
assistant he does not even want. What's even more ridiculous is
the union has sent this matter to the courts to resolve.

At a time when San Jose faces more than a $100 million budget
deficit and the prospect of hundreds of layoffs, San Jose City
Councilman Pete Constant is battling with a City Hall employees'
union over whether he should be forced to hire an administrative
assistant.

Judge Kevin McKenney of Santa Clara County Superior Court
recently ordered that the case be taken to a costly arbitration
instead of the state's Public Employment Relations Board --
something both Constant and the city's attorneys had sought.

That decision pleased the city's 214-member Confidential
Employees Organization, which contends the city was required to
confer with the union before Constant decided to eliminate the
position. The job -- which requires answering phones, scheduling
appointments and making photocopies, among other duties -- pays
about $70,000 a year.

"My concern quite frankly is not who decides the issues. It's
getting a resolution on the core issue, which is: Who should
determine how I staff my office?" said Constant, who was
re-elected last year to a second term representing West San Jose.

The City Council's only Republican contends that residents of the
district support his ability to make decisions for them. Besides,
Constant said, he prefers to do all of the secretarial work
himself, with help from four full-time council aides.

Councilman Constant contends that the $70,000 can be better spent
on things such as resource fairs, helping neighborhood
associations, an online database that updates Constant's office
with constituent information and inquiries, and license fees for
an iPhone app that allows residents to easily report problems.

But LaVerne Washington, president of the employees' association,
said it is not Constant's prerogative to create his own "process
and procedures," which she said conflict with labor agreements
between the city and the union.

In Praise of Lunacy

I commend the sheer idiocy of LaVerne Washington, president of
the employees' association, in pressing this case.

LaVerne Washington shows without a doubt why the only solution to
this madness is the total repudiation and complete destruction of
public unions.

I cheer Washington's idiocy because this is just the kind of
thing that gets the public riled up against public unions. It
will backfire.

Union Slave Rules

Union rules prohibit citizens from being volunteer fireman, from
volunteering to help their schools, from seeking non-union
employment, and from controlling their own lives.

Now we see union rules dictate a city councilman who does not
want to hire an assistant to waste $70,000 hiring one.

People cannot yell "fire" in a movie theater, for good reason.
For the same reason, union rights to "organize" must stop at the
point when they tread on the rights of others to pursue
employment, to do whatever they want with their own time, and to
not waste money hiring employees they do not need.

No one who stands up for the taxpayer in public union contracts.
Worse yet, many of those contracts intrude on private rights as
noted above.

The proper solution is the complete elimination of public unions
and all the slavery they stand for.